Who owns Trinity-Spadina?

Identity politics plague NDP nomination


Is it more important that Ward 20, MP Olivia Chow’s old stomping ground, send a Chinese-Canadian or an out lesbian to City Hall in November’s election?

It’s a stupid question, of course. What’s really important in a politician is competency, vision, leadership and diligence — characteristics which transcend gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. But identity must mean something: Councillor Kyle Rae’s high profile internationally has something to do with his being openly gay.

Council certainly is too white. But in a place that purports to be so gay friendly, it seems equally strange that Rae is the only queer standard-bearer.

That’s what makes the NDP nomination for Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina), to be held Tue, May 23, so interesting. Both Tam Goossen, who is Chinese-Canadian, and Helen Kennedy, who is an out lesbian, are smart, progressive women. Both are immigrants to Canada (Hong Kong and Ireland, respectively), have strong NDP ties and lengthy social-justice-oriented resumés. Goossen’s a three-time public school trustee; Kennedy has been Chow’s executive assistant for seven years.

Yet this month Now weekly, under the headline “Betrayed In Trinity,” made a big deal out of Chow endorsing Kennedy. They quoted several Chinese-Canadians and cited Goossen’s ability to speak Cantonese. “Because she’s Chinese, [she] would make the lily-white council chamber a little less so.”

Considering that if Kennedy were to succeed, she’d be Toronto’s first lesbian councillor, you have to wonder why we aren’t hearing comparable lesbionic arguments. I have a few theories.

* Queers, though typically left-leaning, don’t necessarily vote as a block, while it is assumed that ethnic groups do

* Queers are not large enough in number to help carry any municipal ward in Canada, with the possible exceptions of Rae’s Toronto Centre-Rosedale and Ville-Marie in Montreal

* Queers care more about a queer-friendly policies (which Goossen certainly supports) than about identity, so our support of a sympathetic person of colour shows how we can compromise

* Queers already heavily influence government behind the scenes so we don’t need any more power. (It’s no oddity that Kennedy was Chow’s executive assistant; the last lesbian who ran for council was Chris Phibbs, Rae’s longtime assistant.)

Either woman would be an excellent alternative to the expected star candidate, CityTV’s Adam Vaughan, who is a bit of a git. I just wish there was more policy and vision talk, less ID checking about Chow’s heir.

Paul Gallant

Paul Gallant is a Toronto-based journalist whose work has appeared in The WalrusThe Globe and Mail, the Toronto StarTHIS magazine, CBC.ca, Readersdigest.ca and many other publications. His debut novel, Still More Stubborn Stars, was published by Acorn Press. He is the editor of Pink Ticket Travel and a former managing editor of Xtra. Photo by Tishan Baldeo.

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